


Pearls of Wisdom

by Haberdasher



Series: Twitch Plays Pokemon [25]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Twitch Plays Pokemon (Let's Play)
Genre: Gen, Twitch Plays Platinum, Twitch Plays Pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl's perspective regarding the start of Napoleon's journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pearls of Wisdom

Pearl climbed up the stairs in Napoleon’s house, his footsteps so forceful that they made each wooden step rattle. As he entered Napoleon’s room, Pearl saw his friend blinking rapidly as he stared at the now-darkened television screen.

Pearl sprinted to Napoleon’s side, a huge grin on his face. “There you are! Hey, Nipple, did you see that on TV?”

Pearl paused for breath, and several seconds went by as he waited for a reply that never came. Napoleon had redirected his stare from the TV to Pearl’s face, but the blank expression on his face remained the same.

"Sure you did! And if Professor Rowan studies Pokemon, he must have lots and lots of them! I bet he’d give us one if we asked!"

Napoleon gave a weak nod. As the two stood face to face, Pearl realized that what he thought was rapid blinking was instead twitching. Yes, Napoleon’s eyes were twitching, his arms were shaking, his leg jiggling against the ground, every part of him engaged in constant movement. All except for his mouth, that is, which remained all too silent.

After a few moments, Pearl dashed over to Napoleon’s computer. “Hey, is that a new PC? I didn’t know you were getting one of those! How come you didn’t tell me about it, huh? Or was it a surprise? It looks really fancy too. It’s not an early birthday gift, is it? Man, I’m jealous!” His voice was too loud and too fast and too shaky, but he had to say something, something to fill the silence which had enveloped the room. All Pearl’s questions, those he listed in his rambling and those unvoiced, remained unanswered.

"…right. So we’re going to see Rowan and get Pokemon. I’ll be waiting outside for you, okay? And if you’re late,  _Nipple_ , I’m fining you 10mil.”

Pearl turned around and started stomping his way back down the stairs just after he spoke, having realized that he was unlikely to receive any reaction from his friend besides that silent twitching stare. For a moment, Pearl thought he heard a murmur coming from upstairs, one nearly drowned out by the echo of his footsteps, but when he stood still the sound he thought he’d heard wasn’t there. Must have imagined it. Anything to think there was some kind of sound being made by the room’s sole inhabitant after all.

Several long minutes went by as Pearl waited in his home for Napoleon’s arrival. Usually he would’ve been there much sooner, trash-talking him about the impossibly huge “fines” that the two had charged each other for whatever they could pass off as a misdeed. But today… something was wrong today, something Pearl couldn’t quite put his finger on. Today, he couldn’t be sure that Napoleon was coming at all.

After pacing back and forth, Pearl decided that his wait was fruitless and rushed out the door to see what was taking Napoleon so long… and promptly ran into the person he was searching for.

"H-hey Nipple."

For a split second, Pearl saw Napoleon’s eyes stop twitching. For a split second, the look he was getting wasn’t a mindless stare, but a glare, one all too common and now all too welcome. For a split second, it seemed like all was well.

And then it was gone.

"I’m going to see Rowan now- wait…" Pearl dashed back into the house, knowing that something had slipped his mind in his panic, trying to compose his restless thoughts. After grabbing a few items that he’s forgotten in his haste and sitting in his room for a few minutes, Pearl heard shuffling footsteps downstairs, and then a slow, groaning procession up the stairs.

And then Napoleon was there again.

Pearl said that they were going to meet outside of town. He’d said it all before, but the words spilled out. Maybe if he kept talking about their mission, then Napoleon would tag along. Maybe he’d even snap out of… whatever it was that was going on.

Was it just that he didn’t care about getting a Pokemon? Sure, Napoleon had never been as excited about Pokemon as Pearl, but this was going a bit far… and, come to think of it, hadn’t the weirdness started before all that? It just didn’t make sense.

Pearl heard Napoleon going down the stairs and started heading down himself… only to pass Napoleon on the way, who was now heading up. As Pearl went out the door, he saw Napoleon walking down the stairs once more. Why…?

Napoleon showed up where Pearl was waiting outside of town… several minutes late again. And Pearl could hear his friend’s plodding footsteps from almost the other end of town.

"You’re slow."

At first, Pearl thought that what he was hearing was a hiss, perhaps of some escaped exotic Pokemon or a malfunctioning machine. It wasn’t until the hiss slowly transformed into a moan that Pearl realized the noise was coming from his friend, a single word extended to fill what felt like an eternity. “…sorry.”

Pearl patted his friend on the shoulder, but stopped when he saw that every touch made him flinch. “It’s… it’s okay, Nip- buddy. Let’s get moving to Rowan’s lab, alright?”

To Pearl’s surprise, Napoleon followed right behind him, his slow scraping steps now fast enough to keep pace with him. As Pearl started to step into the tall grass which lined the path, a sudden sound startled him.

"No, don’t!"

Pearl whirled around’ It was Napoleon’s voice, there was no doubt about that. His friend’s hand was outstretched, and he had one foot in the air, as if he was in the middle of taking a step. As Pearl watched, however, his hand and foot returned to lying straight at his side, and his body shook violently all over.

It took a moment before Pearl could muster up the courage to speak again, and before he accepted that his friend wasn’t going to say any more. “…don’t go into the grass, right? Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”

Pearl walked over so he could stand face-to-face with Napoleon, trying to ignore his friend’s twitching and shaking. “If we just keep moving, the wild Pokemon won’t have time to jump out before we’re at the next patch of grass!” It was a stupid plan. Pearl knew it sounded stupid as he said it. But… but Napoleon was there now, and looking right at him, and- was that his head shaking? They had to have some plan, some way of getting to Rowan’s lab. They couldn’t give up here, not after Napoleon had arrived after all that time.

"Stick with me!" Pearl walked back a few paces and nodded towards his friend that he should do the same; it didn’t really surprise him that Napoleon wasn’t moving to follow him.

What did surprise him was, while he was in the middle of his running start towards the grass, an unfamiliar voice shouting “HOLD IT!” Pearl stopped running and fell face-first into the ground, scraping his knee and covering half his body with dirt, though he hurried to stand back up once he recognized the voice’s owner.

It was Rowan, Professor Rowan, the man they (he? Pearl wasn’t quite sure whether Napoleon was really invested in the enterprise) had been searching for. Rowan started lecturing them about the folly of entering the wild grass unprotected, but Pearl started tuning him out as he pondered the mission that had brought them out of town, wondering if their goal was going to fulfilled after all.

He snapped back to reality when he heard Napoleon’s voice. “Y…yes… yes, I… love Pokemon…” That voice, something was wrong with that voice. He could hear hesitation before every syllable. And the reply itself was odd, too. Napoleon had never cared much for Pokemon before; in fact, he’d teased Pearl when the latter had rambled about which species he’d like to own most, a question for which he never determined a definitive answer. (They were all so awesome!) Why, then, was he claiming to love Pokemon now?

Rowan didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss, though. And as the professor’s gaze moved from Napoleon to Pearl, Pearl knew what he had to say. “Me too! I love Pokemon, too!” Was he being a bit loud? The professor didn’t lecture him about raising his tone of voice, as the boys’ mothers both did frequently, but that dark gaze seemed ever so slightly more hostile after he spoke.

The professor asked again if they truly loved Pokemon; this time, Napoleon stayed silent.

"Why are you asking again? We’ll answer the same way a hundred times, we love Pokemon!" Did his voice sound more confident than he felt? Okay, so it was a white lie. But… if this was their chance… if what Pearl had dreamed of all his life was really, truly, honestly going to happen… it’d all be worth it in the end.

Napoleon shook his head back and forth frantically.

Pearl faced his friend. Napoleon… was that a grin or a grimace on his face? Pearl nudged his friend in the foot gently and saw him flinch again. “Stop it. We both love Pokemon, right?”

This time, Napoleon nodded weakly.

"Very well, then. I will entrust both of you with Pokemon."

Pearl nudged Napoleon’s foot again and grinned. Napoleon’s foot nudged him back, and as they looked each other in the eye, everything seemed normal for a moment. Yes, that was definitely a smile on his face now.

A girl walked over to them and dropped off a briefcase, which Professor Rowan opened after another argument which Pearl tuned out. Inside were three Poke Balls. They were smaller than Pearl had pictured them, but every bit as beautiful, the smooth metal gleaming in the sunlight.

It took Pearl a minute to respond to Rowan’s offer. “Napoleon… you can choose first.” Admittedly, part of the reason Pearl offered this was to narrow his options from three to two, to hopefully lessen his indecision. But part of it was… well, clearly Napoleon was having a bad day here. Maybe he was sick, too sick to be romping around like this, but he had run all across town, and claimed to love Pokemon on top of all that, for Pearl’s sake. Making that gesture was the least he could do to cheer his ailing friend up.

Napoleon knelt to the ground and examined the Poke Balls in the briefcase, running his hands across the one in the middle. Pearl could feel his heart race as he waited for his friend to decide.

Suddenly, Napoleon’s hand clutched his forehead, and Pearl could hear him moaning. “No… wait… I don’t… why…”

Napoleon grabbed the one in the middle- a Chimchar, Rowan said-  then, after taking a deep breath, began moaning again. “No, not that one, I shouldn’t have, no, I’m sorry, no…”

"You don’t have to apologize to me. I didn’t want that one anyway."

"No… not you, it’s… the…" His arm started shaking as he held the Poke Ball, his fist clenched so tightly that Pearl worried that the Poke Ball would break. "The voices, they thought… they didn’t want…" The hand not holding the Poke Ball was still holding his forehead.

"Voices?" Pearl murmured.

"You’re hearing voices? Are they  _the_ Voices _?_ " Rowan said.

Napoleon nodded. “Yeah, it’s… they’re… never mind, don’t mind me, I’m fine. Go ahead, Pearl.”

"Well…" Pearl’s hand grazed each of the two Poke Balls that were left before settling on one. "Then, I’m picking this Piplup. You know Piplup evolves into Empoleon, right? Empoleon, Napoleon… They sound kind of similar, you know? Only fitting for my two best friends." Napoleon nodded, and his smile grew bigger.

Blah blah blah newbies blah blah blah come to the lab… Pearl couldn’t focus on Rowan’s speech, as he was too busy staring at the Poke Ball that was in his hand.  _His_  Poke Ball. His Pokemon.

Rowan and the girl walked away, and Pearl and Napoleon faced each other and stood awkwardly.

"Hey, Nipple! We’ve both got Pokemon now. I’ve always wanted to say this… I challenge you to a battle!"

Pearl thought he would have remembered every detail of the battle, his first ever battle, but everything went by too fast. There was a flurry of motion, the Pokemon growled and flew towards each other, and before he knew it his Piplup had fallen to the ground.

"I need to go rest- but before I go, are you really okay?"

Napoleon nodded. He wasn’t shaking now. In fact, he looked almost normal now, as if none of the shaking and twitching and moaning had ever happened, as if the rest of the day had been just a strange dream.

"I’m fine. I can handle it. Don’t worry about me,  _Pee-Pee_.”

Pearl reflexively responded the way he always did before he had time to actually process the situation. “Don’t call me Pee-Pee,  _Nipple_!”

"Don’t call me Nipple, Pee-Pee!"

The two broke into laughter together, and even though Napoleon’s laughter was sharp and hoarse, Pearl could ignore that. They were back to the same old routine. Everything was right with the world again.

Napoleon stopped laughing suddenly and started walking away in a hurry, calling out over his shoulder, “See you later, Pearl!”

"See you later, Napoleon."

Pearl headed back home, taking a moment to watch as Napoleon zig-zagged around, heading in every direction and running into walls and trees. Something was wrong, definitely. But… whatever was going on, whatever these “voices” were, Napoleon wasn’t worried. And if Napoleon wasn’t worried… well, why worry about it in his place? Maybe it really was nothing to worry about. Maybe everything would be alright in the end.


End file.
